Game Outlook: The motivation is high and the coaches are saying all the right things. Brown: “I’m sure they’ll be ready for us.” Larsen: “Snow Canyon is a great basketball team.” This game will go a long way in deciding who the region champion will be, though there are too many games left to declare tonight’s winner the region champ. The Warriors won the first meeting 42 days ago (Dec. 18) at the Jungle, roaring out to a 17-point lead in the first half. Pine View cut it to three in the third quarter, but never did completely catch SC in the 72-66 game. Fouls were a big factor with Wilstead and Dowdell in trouble early and Gottfredson and Anderson in trouble late. The guard match-ups will be intriguing, too, with Peterson/Bangerter vs. Jenkins/Sampson. Peterson and Bangerter have combined for 39 3-pointers. Jenkins and Sampson have tallied 29. The X factors will be Newby and Koller vs. Frei and Rigby.

Game outlook: The Tigers got their lone region win of the season against Dixie, 54-53, back in December and in the process burst Dixie’s bubble. The Flyers had just blasted Desert Hills and had early visions of a region title. Since then, the two teams have combined to go just 2-11 in region. For Hurricane, the role of spoiler has presented itself early and it starts tonight. A season sweep of Dixie would almost certainly end any playoff hopes for the Flyers and the two teams match up fairly well. Plus the Tigers are building for the future with a lot of young players on the squad. As for Dixie, this is a must win if the playoffs are in the future. Hawes is playing well, but with Guymon still out, someone else needs to help shoulder the scoring load.

Game Outlook: Maybe lost a little in the headline of the Pine View-Snow Canyon first-place battle is this one for third place. The winner of this game still has an outside shot at a region title and a very good chance at second place. Desert Hills beat Cedar by a 48-40 final back in December in a game the Redmen led most of the night. Tanner and Staggs will bang hard inside, but we like the guard battle between Nielson and Mathews. Nielson has more range, but Mathews is bigger and more physical. These are the two best defenses in the region, so points will be at a premium and every possession will be valuable. Expect the winner to have around 50.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2014, all rights reserved.

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About the Author

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m.
Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.